Mr. Self-serve himself, Senator Chuck Schumer, called for jobs to be outsourced to Saudi Arabia—not directly but he asked for something that would have the same result. Over the weekend he called for Saudi Arabia to increase oil production, totally ignoring a country with larger energy reserves than Saudi Arabia–The United States of America.

Schumer sent this letter to Secretary of State Hilary Clinton.

Dear Secretary Clinton:

As you are aware, due to the worry turmoil in the Middle East and its impacts on oil supplies, American consumers are facing rising gasoline prices, with the national average price of a gallon of regular gas at $3.69. This is nearly double 2009’s average of $1.86 a gallon and the highest prices we have ever seen for this time of year. The price of diesel fuel has also increased reaching $4.02 a gallon. The price of diesel fuel not only affects truck drivers, but it pushes food and transportation costs higher for consumers, too. The combined effect of these energy price hikes drags down our economy, which can undercut our recovery. These skyrocketing fuel prices are directly linked to the global energy market, particularly Iran’s recent efforts to manipulate oil prices and the worry of impacts on supply from an escalation of regional hostilities. To address this situation, I urge the State Department to work with government of Saudi Arabia to increase its oil production, as they are currently producing well under their capacity.

Saudi Arabia, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, is averaging around 10 million barrels of oil per day. This is 2.5 million barrels short of their approximately 12.5 million barrel capacity. These lower production levels have a negative impact on global markets. When paired with recent actions by Iran in halting sales to French and U.K. companies, and threatening to stop sales to countries such as Italy, already fragile markets are unduly roiled. These market shifts are now hitting Americans at the pump, reverberating throughout the rest of our economy, and threatening our recovery.

I remain appreciative of the administration’s efforts to hedge the price of oil by releasing 30 million barrels from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve this past June, and coordinating with the International Energy Agency in the release of an Additional 30 million barrels. Recent unprecedented market spikes and international provocation warrant equally decisive action by the State Department in hedging the current prices. I urge the State Department to work with government of Saudi Arabia to increase its oil production to its actual capacity of 12.5 million barrels and help stabilize markets.

Thank you for your consideration and attention to this important matter.

What Schumer refuses to admit is according to a 2010 Congressional Research Service Report (full report embedded below). The US has the highest energy reserves in the world .

While the President keeps lying about our reserves (saying we have only a tiny minority of the world’s oil reserves at around 28 billion barrels) according to the CRS report that number is in reality around 163 billion barrels.

“That’s enough oil to maintain America’s current rates of production and replace imports from the Persian Gulf for more than 50 years”.

In fact according to that same report the United States is sitting on all kinds of energy:

Further, CRS notes the 2009 assessment from the Potential Gas Committee, which estimates America’s future supply of natural gas is 2,047 trillion cubic feet (TCF) – an increase of more than 25 percent just since the Committee’s 2006 estimate. At today’s rate of use, this is enough natural gas to meet American demand for 90 years. Coal The report also shows that America is number one in coal resources, accounting for more than 28 percent of the world’s coal. Russia, China, and India are in a distant 2nd, 3rd, and 5th, respectively. In fact, CRS cites America’s recoverable coal reserves to be 262 billion short tons. For perspective, the US consumes just 1.2 billion short tons of coal per year. And though portions of this resource may not be accessible or economically recoverable today, these estimates could ultimately prove to be conservative. As CRS states: “…U.S. coal resource estimates do not include some potentially massive deposits of coal that exist in northwestern Alaska. These currently inaccessible coal deposits have been estimated to be more than 3,200 billion short tons of coal.” Oil Shale While several pilot projects are underway to prove oil shale’s future commercial viability, the Green River Formation located within Colorado, Wyoming, and Utah contains the equivalent of 6 trillion barrels of oil. The Department of Energy estimates that, of this 6 trillion, approximately 1.38 trillion barrels are potentially recoverable. That’s equivalent to more than five times the conventional oil reserves of Saudi Arabia.

And for those of you who will point out that it takes 10 years for that oil supply to reach the pipeline let me remind you of something that was Bush’s fault. Crude Oil prices peaked during the summer of 2008 as it hit $145 in July 2008. Prices began to fall immediately after President Bush lifted the executive ban on offshore oil drilling on July 14th. By the end of December 2008, crude oil spot price fell to $30.28 a barrel.

Its interesting that just the threat of new drilling drove down costs. And if the progressives allowed drilling the Job market would feel the effects much, much sooner. And those brand new energy related jobs would create new jobs in other industries including the consumer goods those new energy employees would now be able to purchase.

That “ten year excuse” was one of the reasons President Clinton felt comfortable with his veto of a bill allowing drilling at ANWAR. That was 15 years ago, and could be helping us with oil costs today.

Self-Serve Senator Schumer doesn’t care about the facts, all he really cares about is becoming majority leader of the Senate. That’s why he toes the party “no-drilling” line, he would rather send American jobs and money to Saudi Arabia than to make waves by doing the right thing.